Core network design and deployment workflow of carriers and wireless internet service providers (ISPs) has not significantly changed since the 1990s. Static geographic information system (GIS) data is utilized for basic network planning. Single-seat licensed software applications are used for predicted network planning. These typically operate on independent workstations (e.g., desktop computers) and generally have no communication or coordination with applications or licensed seats operating on other workstations, even those belonging to the same carrier or ISP but managed by other persons and/or engineering design teams. Simulations and plots are run on the individual workstations and saved as local files that are usually accessed only by the design team that created them.
The traditional software applications for network modeling and simulation use a fixed, bounded view of the network. Limited scalability of predictive tools means only certain scale geographical areas are considered at one time.
Furthermore, measurement data is put to limited use. There exists no intelligent assessment of how to re-use measurement data beyond the original purpose for which it was collected. There is also no intelligent assessment of overall measurement data validity after its collection. Generally, a fairly arbitrary validity period (e.g., 6 months) is selected such that at the end of the time period the data is discarded as being purportedly invalid. Such data may have been invalid after 2 months or may still be valid after 2 years, for example.
Further hindering measurement data re-use is the conventional belief within the industry that any changes to network assets or infrastructure renders existing collected measurements invalid. In reality, the type of changes made to existing network assets and infrastructure need to be considered before concluding that existing measurement data is no longer valid. There currently exists no intelligent method for assessing ongoing measurement data validity in the face of changing network assets or infrastructure.
Wireless network design typically involves the following basic steps for discrete teams focused on a given geographical area:                1. Determine network design goals        2. Acquire GIS data, convert to proper format, import to design tool(s)        3. Utilize design tool(s), iterating to accomplish network design goals        4. Convert design into deployment plan of record; may require many months to implement designThis traditional form of wireless network design is largely a manual process. Coordination between multiple teams operating concurrently within the same geographic region, where coordination even exists, must be separately handled by project owners (i.e., the human leaders of projects). Shifting design goals or newly updated GIS data may go unaccounted for or must be noticed and manually entered into existing design tools by a particular human team member. In other words, there is a requirement for design tool operators to manually update performance plots whenever any inputs change. The performance plots must then be assessed anew for validity given the new inputs. Time elapsed from when a design is confirmed/committed until deployment within the network is complete may be significant. Over such significant time windows, there is an increasing likelihood design goals, GIS data, or the overlapping work of concurrent teams may impact the deployment plan, frequently in a negative manner. Project teams operating in parallel within the same network region lack efficient tools to aid collaboration and limit potential conflicts.        